Soap-vase



R. E. CASE.

sou VASE.

(No Model.)

No. 579,954. Patented Apr. 6, 1897.

R O T N E V m WITNESSES:

Attm'ney.

ail/yaw UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

RICHARD E. CASE, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

soAP-vAs E.

SPECIFICATION forming part Of Letters Patent No. 579,954, dated April 6, 1897.

Application filed July 3, 1896. Serial No. 597,988. (No model.)

To a IUibO/IL it may concern.-

Beitknown that I, RICHARD E. CASE, a citizen of the United States, residin gat Brooklyn, Kings county, New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Vases or Holders for Powdered Soap or the Like, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to holders or vases for powdered soap and like powdered material which is to be delivered in a measured quantity at the bottom; and the object is to provide a simple and easily-operated holder and one which will measure and discharge freely without becoming choked or clogged.

In the accompanying drawings, which illustrate an embodiment of the invention, Figure 1 is a vertical axial section of the holder in the plane indicated by the line as in Fig. 2. Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the same. Fig. 3 is a horizontal section, the plane of which is indicated by line 50 in Fig. 1: Fig. at is a similar section taken in the plane indicated by line as in Fig. 1.

1 represents the body of the outer casing, here represented as cylindrical. This body has a removable cap 2, which may be secured when in place by a lock 3, and it has also a removable delivery-hopper at at the bottom. I may say here that the hopper 4: is secured in place by the following-described devices: On the upper margin of the hopper is a hollow bead 5, having in it an entering cut or opening 6, (seen in Figs. 3 and 4,) and on the body 1, where the bead on said hopper embraces it, is a locking projection or knob 7. (Seen in Fig. 1 and also in dotted lines in Figs. 3 and 4.) When the hopper is pushed onto the lower end of the body, the knob 7 is made to enter the bead 5 at the entering-cut 6, and by turning the hopper on the body the knob is made to enter the hollow of the bead and lock the parts together. In order to lock the parts against turning one on the other, so as to bring the knob 7 again to the cut 6, the body 1 is provided with a keeper 8, into which wipes a spring-latch 9 on the hopper when the latter is turned to effect the lockin g. It will not be necessary to remove the hopper often, but if it is required this may be done by inserting a simple hooked wire into the hopper from below and engaging its hook with a hole 10 in the inwardly-turned free end of the latch 9.

By drawing on the hooked wire the latch will be drawn out free from its keeper, when the hopper can be turned until the knob 7 coincides with the opening or cut 6.

The cap or cover 2 will be provided also with a head 11 to engage aknob or looking projection 12 on the body 1, as seen in Fig. 1.

iVithin the casing 1 is mounted the cup or reservoir 13 for the powdered soap. This cup is open at the top and has a conical or hopper form at its bottom, interiorly, to lead the powder into a measuring-chamber 14, fixed thereto. This cup 13 is adapted to move up and down to a limited extent and has two bridgepieces 14 by which it is guided on an upright valve-rod 15, secured at its upper end in the casing 1 by means of a bridge-piece 16 in the latter.

On the lower end of the rod 15 are fixed two valves 17 and 18, the former adapted to close the lower or outlet end of the chamber 14 when the cup 13 is in its normal position, and the latter adapted to close the upper or receiving end of said chamber when the cup is raised to its highest position. Thus it will be seen that when the cup 13 contains a powderand occupies its normal position (seen in full lines in Fig. 1) the valve 17 will be closed and the valve 18 open, so that the powder is free to flow into and fill the measuring-chamber 14, and if the cup be now raised so as to reverse the positions of the valves with respect to the chamber the powder in the measuring-chamber will flow out past the valve 17 into the hopper et, where it may be caught by the hand as it flows out from'the said hopper.

In order to raise the cup or reservoir 13, I employ the lever device seen in Figs. 1 and 4. As herein shown, this device comprises a forked lever fulcrumed in the holder at 19 and having two branches 20, which take under the bottom of the cup 13, and an operating handle or arm 21, which extends out through a slot in the casing and is adapted to be depressed by the thumb or finger of the user. In Fig. 1 the positions of the parts when the lifting-lever is depressed are indicated in dotted lines.

To agitate the powdered material in the cup 13 whenever the latter is raised, and thus prevent it from packing, radial cross wires or rods 22 are fixed in the valve-rod 15 to out up the mass, and to perform the same duty in the measuring-chamber 14 a spiral wire 23 is arranged about the rod between the two valves 17 and 18.

As the cup 13 is to be filled at the top by the removal of the cap or cover 2, and it is desirable that none of the powder shall get down between said cup and the casing 1, I provide the casing with an annular inclined ledge or hopper 24 at its top to guide the material into the cup.

The holder may be provided with an y known means for mounting it on the wall, or in any desired manner, as with a bracket, for example; but this is a common device and is not material to my present invention.

It is very important in this class of devices that water shall be excluded from the dry powdered soap in the cup and casing, and as the vase is peculiarly exposed at the washstand to drops from splashing I provide as an outlet the deep detachable delivery-hopper 4, which is so constructed as to prevent the access of spattered drops of water to the soap contained in the vase. The removability of this hopper affords ready access to the valved outlet of the cup and to the lifting mechanism.

I do not limit myself to the special details of construction herein shown. The lifting device for the cup 13 may be constructed in various ways, for example, and the fillinghopper 24: might be detachable, if desired. The cup 13 is herein shown as depressed by gravity, and this will suffice, but any one skilled in the art will readily understand how a coiled spring could be placed on the rod 15 between the bridge-pieces 14 and 16 for assisting to depress it. The valves 17 and'18 will be fixed on the rod 15 and spaced a distance apart a little greater than the length of the chamber 14:.

Having thus described my invention, I claim 1. In a holder for the purpose specified, the combination with an outer casing having an out-let at its bottom, and a valve-rod secured therein and provided with two spaced valves, of an inner cup or reservoir guided on said valve-rod and provided at its bottom with a measuring-chamber adapted to be closed respectively at its upper and lower ends by said valves when the cup is raised and lowered, and a lifting device for said reservoir adapted to be operated exteriorto said casing, substantially as set forth.

2. In a holder for the purpose specified, the combination with the outer casing 1, and the upright valve-rod 15, mounted therein and provided with two Valves, 17 and 18, of the cup or reservoir13 mounted loosely in guides in the casing and having at its bottom a. measuring-chamber 14, the inlet and outlet of which are controlled by the valves on said rod, a lifting device forsaid reservoir 13, and means carried by the valve-rod for cutting through the mass of material in the reservoir and measuring-chamber when they are elevated, substantially as set forth.

3. In a holder for the purpose specified, .the combination with the outer casing, and the cup or reservoir mounted in guides therein so that it may move up and down toa limited extent, of the means for raising said cup or reservoir consisting of a lever fulcrumed in the casing and having one arm which takes under said reservoir and an operating-arm which projects out through a slot in said casing, substantially as set forth.

4:. In a holder for the purpose specified, the

a locking projection 7, and a keeper 8, of the outlet-hopper 4 provided with a bead 5 having in it an entrance-cut 6, and a springlatch 9, all arranged to operate substantially as set forth.

5. The combination with the outercasing 1, having a deep, removable, hopper-like bottom, 4, of ,the movable cup 13, in said casing and having a valve-controlled outlet at its bottom, and the lever mechanism for operating said cup, substantially as set forth.

6. The combination with the outer casing 1,turned inward at its top to form an inward! projecting rim, of the cup 13, inclosed withm said casing and capable of being moved up and down, means for operating said cup, and a stationary valve in the bottom of said'cup, the latter being adapted to close the outlet in its bottom in its descent upon said valve, substantially as set forth.

In witness whereof I have hereunto signed my name in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

RICHARD E. CASE- lVitnesses:

HENRY OoNNETT, PETER A. Boss.

1 combination with the outer casing 1, having 

